Anchor Sports Bar and Grill

Former Location

270 Miracle Mile Dr, Rochester, NY 14623

Status

CLOSED (as of October 2012)

The Anchor Sports Bar and Grill was a bar and restaurant. The Marketplace Mall location opened in September 2009 but closed in the Fall of 2012.

History:

The original Rochester location opened in September 2009 as the Anchor Bar on East Avenue and closed down in early 2012.

This Anchor bar was owned by Michael Collichio¹ and was a franchise of the original Anchor Bar and restaurant of the same name in Buffalo. (The Buffalo Anchor Bar is recognized as the place where Teressa Bellissimo "invented" the Buffalo chicken wing in 1964.²) In 2011, the Rochester locations changed their name to Anchor Sports Bar and Grill; their website now says they are "Not Affiliated With The Original Anchor Bar."

Comments:

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2009-09-06 14:50:40 This is a letter I sent to the owner of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo in regards to my experience at the Anchor Bar in Rochester.

Ivanno,

I went to the new Anchor Bar location in Rochester, NY today. They are ruining the Anchor Bar name. It feels like a night club when you walk into the Anchor Bar in Rochester. It also feels like hooters when you walk in. I also noticed that they cooking chicken wings outside in the alley in fryers that are next to the garbage cans. disgusting!!!!!.

The wings are tiny, fatty, and undercooked. The waitresses have no idea what is going on and seem to have no experience in the restaurant industry. We even asked for the wings crispy and they where soggy. Lunch room chicken wings are better than this. I told the waitress that the wings they are serving to the public are a mockery and the worst I have ever had. She didnt seem to care. You need to get down to Rochester and see what is going on. The cooks need to be trained and see how your cooks make the wings. There is no pizza on the menu and no chicken fingers for kids or anything like that. They charged almost $12.00 for a plain cheese quisadilla with french fries for my daughter. What a joke.

Honestly, I grew up in the Buffalo area and live in Rochester now due to work. PLEASE get down there and see what is going on and fix it. Bathrooms where filthy, wings horrible (made the chikcen wings in a high school cafeteria look good), cooking chicken wings in the alley outside next to garbage can, no kids menu (almost $12.00 for a plain cheese quesadilla and fries).

They are making a mockery out of what the Anchor Bar stands for. Please go to the location on East Avenue in Rochester and see for yourself. Go unannounced. If nothing is fixed the Anchor Bar name will be tarnished (If it isn't already) and they will be out of business within 6 to 8 months. It is a joke. Please speak to the owner who is franchising this location and fix it before it is too late.

Sincerely,

Keith Van Ornum —KeithVanOrnum

2009-09-06 20:31:05 I went here tonight and was disappointed in the wings but totally pissed off by the service. Our immediate waitress was helpful, but the hostesses were entirely incompetent and downright rude. Unfortunately because of their incompetence to seat people I spent more time talking with hostesses than the actual wait staff. Go once and see what you think, but I don't think I will be going back. —WindyPig

2009-09-12 08:49:38 I visited Anchor Bar last Sunday night for take out. In my opinion Anchor Bar suffers from the following critical flaws.

1. The physical appearance of the restaurant. Anchor Bar blends into the block of bars and clubs. Add something unique on the outside; a sign would be perfect! 2. The hostess staff are not friendly, they did not immediately greet us when we walked in, instead they continued to talk amongst themselves. When they finally did greet us, they were just plain rude. 3. Consistency. We ordered a single order of mild wings. When the hostess brought out the box of wings, it was leaking sauce, and the wings were completely drenched. The order was for 10 wings and we got 11 wings, a few sticks of celery and a cup of bleu cheese. The wings were good, although smothered in sauce, and we wanted more. I ordered another single order and picked them up. When I opened the box I noticed the inconsistency. The wings (10 in this order) were nearly dry, no sauce, no celery, and no bleu cheese.

Management should seriously look into these concerns. While I love the wings, I don't think I need to put up with rude hostesses. I know the restaurant just opened and has some kinks to work through, but at the same time, the restaurant just opened! They should be overly friendly to bring people back in! —DaRoc

2009-09-12 12:20:56 We were having locating the phone number for this locaction. We called the Anchor Bar in Buffalo to see if they would give it to us. The person who answered the phone in Buffalo told us in no uncertain terms that this restaurant was not owned by and was in no way affiliated with the original Buffalo location. —Kahatch

2009-09-16 12:17:55 While the host staff and wait staff tend to be extremely good looking girls, the wings are terrible. Soggy, undercooked and overpriced. The kitchen definitely needs to change things up if this place wants to stay open past the "oh neat its anchor bar lets try it" first time customers, and the novelty of being located in the east end. —Gordo

2009-09-16 12:54:11 This is an Anchor Bar in name only. Otherwise, it's just another crappy Ronnie Davis club. —LanceReed

2009-09-17 09:53:51 Honestly, I was coming here to say what Lance posted above. I think I make better chicken wings than the ones I had there and that should not be true. Edit on 9/21/09 Also, I asked teh bartender if the kitchen was busy and they said no, it should take 5 - 10 minutes for wings. It took 40 minutes. —BadFish

2009-09-17 20:06:36 I went here because I remember a good friend from Buffalo said that if I wanted REAL wings to try Anchor. I didnt realize at first that the latest incarnation of this particular bar (it changes about every 6 months) was the Anchor but once I did I decided to stop by and try the place out.... I can honestly say that I've had wings from a Kodak cafeteria that put the stuff I was served to shame. The food was undercooked (as others have said above) and the service was just plain poor. The sad part is that this abomination seems to be stealing business from Murphy's Law across the street which is a genuinely better bar and overall establishment.

Then again I'll be surprised if by February this isnt yet another different bar. —LukeAnderson

2009-10-13 18:53:42 We took our friends from the Jersey Shore to the Anchor bar on Saturday the 3rd of October. Never again. The staff was horrendous. The wings were wimpy, undercooked and veiny. The cost was OUTRAGEOUS and the service, above and beyond the inept wanna be Hooters Chic, was piss poor. The mangement was hanging out at the back bar watching tv, the hostesses did not seem to want to answer questions. No we had to wait 10 minutes for bowls to put the bones.

Obviously the owners of this franchise are not subject to quality control or ovedrsight by the fine family that created this world wide sensation.

Never again. —BrianWhite

2009-10-26 15:30:16 I went there for lunch with my coworkers on Monday, the wings were large, excellently cooked, crispy on the outside, and the skin didn't fall off like at BWW. The flavor was weak though, we had hot wings but it was mild to medium at best. I didn't even need blue cheese. the bar is very nice and large. The group consensus was they aren't the best in Rochester, but they aren't the worst either. —DamianKumor

2009-11-02 11:55:15 Of course people are unhappy with Anchor Bar Rochester. It shares a commonality with most other bars in the east end and that's RONNIE DAVIS. He doesn't pay his taxes, he tries to keep quality bars (Murphy's Law) out of that region. He ruins whatever he touches and now he's done it to a regional delicacy. Thanks a lot Ronnie. —Zilla

2009-11-02 12:17:28 Judging by what exited my body the morning after my last visit here, I won't ever be coming back. The service is horrible, slow and the food is tasteless and, quite possibly, undercooked. I've given this place 3 shots and they wiffed each time (right from the moment I walked in). This place is by no means anything like the REAL Anchor Bar. Run away! —BatGuano

2009-11-04 17:27:14 As others have noted, their "hot" wings would be considered mild anywhere else. The wings were just blah. Can't comment on the service as I got takeout. The Buffalo location is soo much better in terms of taste. —TippingPoint

2010-03-05 14:17:23 Just called this joint and a recording states that the call cannot be completed. Dissconnected? Is it still in business? —jjjingleheimer

2010-04-09 15:35:06 Their website appears to be down. anchorbarrochester.com is also slated to be deleted on 4/10/10... Really too bad that we couldn't get a real Anchor Bar in Rochester. I love going to the Buffalo original. —DavidGottfried

2010-06-04 21:48:18 There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the website. —ThomasPawlik

2010-11-28 20:25:36 i recently heard that the east end establishment was shut down for health reasons. i can attest to that, as when i ate there my silverware was filfthy!!! Crusts of food on my knife and fork. My waitress was no where to be found so i was forced to go to the extremely rude "hostess" who refused to acknowledge my presence.
On a seperate occassion, we ordered anchor bites, they had no problem serving us char blackend bites that were beyond burnt. you could see it through the sauce in the dim lighting... enough said. All you could taste was char. The waitress tried to play dumb, but they knew damn well what they were serving.
No thanks, never again! —HappyResident4

2011-01-18 16:15:23 The marketplace mall location is quite different then the east end.... they prepare all there food fresh and have have a family friendly atmosphere during the day and a fun happyhour/late night bar. Great drink specials and friendly bartenders... worth a look —StevePacilio

2011-01-29 10:52:18 I visited the Anchor Bar in Marketplace yesterday 1-28-2011 with a friend. We had a wonderful experience. We could not have been more pleased with the food, atmosphere, and most importantly the service. Our waitress "Gina" was absolutely wonderful. She made our experience one that we are looking forward to repeating in the very near future. We had beef on wick, so tasty, served at the right temperature, with your choice of side either mac & cheese, fries, potatoe salad etc. I only know one person who makes better potatoe salad and that is my father. Value wise it was worth every cent which by the way we were surprised that our lunches were only $7.99 each. Don't miss out on this fine restaurant. Stacie Schieder —StacieSchieder

2011-02-02 15:31:15 there are so many places that serve better wings that this place. (I tried them two weekends ago at Eastview Mall) They don't come close to Jeremiah's, Distillery, and others. Anchor Bar may have invented buffalo wings, but they have long been surpassed by so many other wing joints. —ytbh

2011-11-14 12:54:45 according to YNN, they lost their liquor license...plan to re-open in a few weeks

http://rochester.ynn.com/content/563539/anchor-bar-and-scene-nightclub-close/

chris —ChrisTrapatsos

2012-01-23 09:19:00 I actually like the appearance of the Anchor Bar downtown, though it is just a bunch of high tops. The prices are high, and the quality is OK. Their meat hot sauce was horrible, and my food my a little cold. I found the portions to be decently sized. I've never had the wings, though. $1 per wing is ridiculous. —DE

2012-02-19 02:20:44 I went to the location at The MarketPlace Mall.

Service was non existance because we actually overheard the manager tell the servers "NOT TO SERVE OUR TABLE". We only stayed there because the band that was playing was friends of ours. When we wanted a drink we went to the bar, we wanted something too eat, we ordered through the bar. When the food got to us, it was over an hour for them to make 3 simple fast meals. It was cold and nasty, overcooked main food and the fries were still frozen.

The other issue was we watched the manager actually slap the butts of all the female waitresses. He actually singles out the women, went to them out of his way so he could touch there butts. He was even calling them sexy or hottie and things of this nature.

So, NO service, Terrible food, sexual harrassment.

I dont care if a friend is in a band playing there or not, Ill never step in the place again, and yes, Im making a formal complaint to the main/corporate office about this, just letting everyone know anyway I can. —BenS

2012-02-19 21:43:36 There is now no mention of the East Avenue location on their website. —MarkJackson